Piggy primer of indulgences
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Bacon: In America, this means cured, smoked pork belly, typically cut in strips. However, any cured meat from the sides, back and jowls of the pig can be called “bacon.”
Bacon bits: Crumbled cooked bacon. The term also is used for bacon-flavored soy protein pieces.
Back bacon: Cured, smoked pork loin.
Beef bacon: A baconlike product, also called “beef fry,” made from cured and smoked beef plate, a near substitute that can be religiously correct for Jews or Muslims.
Canadian bacon: U.S. term for cured, smoked, fully cooked meat from the eye of the pork loin, typically sliced in rounds; it is called “smoked back bacon” in Canada.
Chicharron: Snack made from twice-fried pork skin, a Mexican specialty.
Cottage bacon: Cured shoulder of pork, thinly sliced in ovals.
Country-style bacon: Thick-sliced bacon.
Fatback: A slab of fresh fat from a pig’s back.
Fresh bacon: Uncured pork belly.
Gammon: British term for the cured back leg and hindquarters of a hog.
Guanciale: Unsmoked Italian-style jowl bacon.
Gypsy bacon: Cured, roasted pork belly seasoned with paprika, a Hungarian specialty.
Ham: Cured pork thigh.
Irish bacon: Cured, smoked pork loin. It differs from Canadian bacon in that it includes a tail of fatty meat. English bacon is similar, with a somewhat different cure and cut.
Jowl bacon: Cured meat from the cheeks and jowls of hogs.
Lard: Rendered bacon fat.
Lardo: Seasoned, cured, aged fatback, an Italian specialty. If smoked, it’s called lardone.
Lardons: Small oblongs cut from a slab of bacon, used for seasoning and garnishes.
Lop yuk: Pork belly cured in shaoxing wine and soy sauce and air-dried, a Chinese specialty.
Pancetta: Cured but unsmoked pork belly, an Italian specialty.
Peameal bacon: Canadian back bacon, sweet-pickled, unsmoked and traditionally rolled in ground yellow peas but now usually in cornmeal.
Pork belly: Fatty, boneless side portion of the hog (after removal of the loin, fatback and spareribs).
Prosciutto: Dry-cured Italian ham.
Salt pork: Salt-cured, unsmoked pork-belly fat.
Side bacon: American bacon.
Slab bacon: Unsliced bacon, typically still attached to the rind.
Speck: Pork leg cured with herbs and spices, air-dried and lightly smoked, a specialty of the Italian Alps.
Streaky bacon: British term for American-style bacon.
Turkey bacon: Smoked turkey made to resemble bacon, but tasting little like it.
Vegetarian bacon: Made from soy protein, it tastes like smoked plastic.
Leah A. Zeldes
